19

Justin Eeles, a long-time publishing contact, reached out to me recently informing me that he had taken the role of Editor-in-Chief of NOW! Singapore, a new lifestyle magazine rolling out in our island state this month. Justin was interested in publishing a photo essay about Singapore and was curious what I had in my archives. I knew immediately what images I wanted to share...

Chinese opera is deeply ingrained in Chinese culture, with roots back to the Third Century. The Chinese immigrants who have settled in Singapore over the past 150 years have transported this traditional form of musical theatre with them, performing it on makeshift wooden stages in car parks and open fields across Singapore’s heartlands, most notably during Chinese New Year and Hungry Ghost festival celebrations. Other than offering entertainment, most performances highlight positive virtues such as love, loyalty and patriotism.

I have always been drawn to the vibrant costumes and colourful face painting of the performers, and have often wished for an opportunity to photograph this fading traditional art. However, the opportunity was only recently presented to me, when invited to join a performance by the Xin Xin Rong He Teochew street opera troupe in Ghim Moh, a neighbourhood not far from my home.

I arrived early and approached the small rickety stage with my camera, unsure how I would be received by the performers. Almost immediately I was invited backstage as the actors hurriedly dressed in their costumes and applied their make-up for the upcoming performance.

Backstage buzzed with energy as cast and crew raced back and forth through the cramped dressing room -- lit only by naked light bulbs dangling from wires. Drums pounded and cymbals crashed on the small stage, located just beyond the thin, transparent sheet that separated fantasy from reality.

These photographs are a small collection of the work I created when I spent that evening with the Xin Xin Rong He troupe; more of this series can be found on my website.

As is the case with many of the travel pictures I make, they often have a shelf-life that extends beyond the original assignment, reappearing in other publications in the future. However, I've never had an instance where an image that was originally printed in a magazine was reprinted in that same title nearly six years later...

This happened just this month with the release of T+L's The Best of Penang + Langkawi, a free downloadable digital guide to two of Malaysia's most popular island destinations featuring my photograph from beautiful Bon Ton Resort on the cover.

Captured poolside within the grounds of Bon Ton's 100 year-old coconut plantation, this photograph reminds me of those few glorious days spent shooting on Langkawi all those years ago, as well as a subsequent visit to Langkawi and Bon Ton for a personal holiday just over two years ago.

14

When contemplating China, people often imagine the crowded and increasingly cosmopolitan streets of Shanghai and Beijing. I've been fortunate enough to visit and photograph these thriving metropolitan centres, documenting their frenetic energy and economic optimism. I am fascinated by the urban sprawl of China’s metropolises as these cities continue to grow. It is amazing to me that China has more than 160 cities with a population greater than 1 million people, and I am very interested in how this is changing rural life for the Chinese who live in the outlying areas of these cities’ ever-expanding limits.

To this point, and to try and seek a different perspective on China, I have spent time documenting the more provincial cities and smaller rural towns of Yunnan province in the picturesque southwest of the country. I relish photographing these quaint, unrehearsed scenes where traditional life is set against a stunning canvas of rugged, natural beauty.

I was recently contacted by my friends at Publicitas in Singapore; they were looking for a cover image and a photographic essay for Thai Airways' Sawasdeeinflight magazine. They were interested in featuring some of my China work, and I was more than happy to oblige.

A small collection of my China reportage appears on the cover and across 10 pages inside the October 2014

edition of Sawadee and includes photographs I made in Shanghai, Beijing, Lijiang and Diqing.

Often called the “Paris of the East”, Shanghai is modern China’s crown jewel, a city of shiny shopping malls and teeming skyscrapers mixed with European colonial concessions and traditional Chinese architecture. Shanghai is a remarkable fusion of the modern and the historical, a hornet's nest of frenetic energy and (seemingly controlled) chaos, and I loved photographing this juxtaposition.

In Beijing I was drawn to the city’s labyrinthine hutongs (narrow streets and alleys) where local flavor and a taste of China’s cultural history endures. I was also drawn to the 798 Art District in the Chaoyang District located outside the city. Situated in decommissioned 1950s-era state-owned military factory buildings, 798 is home to Beijing's burgeoning arts scene.

Yunnan province lies within the picturesque region of southwest China, and is distinguished from the rest of the country by its geographic and cultural diversity. Yunnan’s topography, rich in flora and fauna, stretches from the lush tropical rainforests of the south to the spectacular snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas.

Constructed toward the end of the twelfth century, Lijiang was the capital of the ancient Naxi Kingdom and a crucial

fortress on the Yunnan-Tibet “Old Tea Trade Route”. Today, distinctive Naxi-style architecture and tradition still flank the cobblestone lanes of the quaint Old Town, and strolling these twisting lanes is a photographer’s delight: local artisans work in open doorways, women stir steaming pots on the pathways men play mahjong in cafés and there is a bounty of handmade jewellery, clothing, carvings and pottery for sale. Outside the city, in the meadows nestled beneath the snowy peaks of the soaring Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, is home to dozens of ethnic minority groups, each with its own distinctive tribal costumes and traditional customs.

Further north, perched on the edge of the Tibetan plateau and within the rolling, rocky area designated Shangri-La by the Chinese government, visitors to Diqing and the surrounding villages will find a small but unique slice of giant and enigmatic China and be afforded glimpses into its charming and customary rural past.

08

In May I was approached by my friends at Ink Publishing to shoot the cover feature for the July/August 2014 edition of Tiger Airways' Tiger Tales Asia inflight magazine.

My creative brief was to photograph five food and beverage establishments that have a "dual personality" -- that operate as local hawker stalls by day and then transform into high-end restaurants and bars at night. As writer Celine Asril says, "Kopi-O or craft spirits? Mee pok or a fancy omakase set? In parts of Singapore where old-school kopitiams and high-end F&B outlets share the same space, it all depends on which time of day you turn up."

Not only is multi-purposing spaces a clever idea, it has become a business imperative in parts of Singapore such as Tiong Bahru, where operating costs have rapidly increased in recent years. As Celine explains, "Built in the 1930s, Tiong Bahru recently underwent a makeover that saw it ascend to the ranks of the Lion City’s hippest enclaves (including making Vogue's recent list of 'The World's Coolest Neighbourhoods'). But the area’s gentrification didn’t come without a cost. In the face of forays by businesses catering for the affluent, the modest eateries that put the neighbourhood on the map in the first place

were in danger of being pushed out. Rather than enter into a conflict that would have proved beneficial to no one, however, a compromise was reached. By splitting the cost of renting their retail spaces with high-end bistros and bars, the owners of these time-tested stalls managed to stay in business while simultaneously helping preserve the area’s old-school flavour."

The first location I photographed, the iconic coffee shop at 56 Eng Hoon Street, which becomes Two Face Pizza & Taproom every evening at dusk, was the first of these dual-purpose food and beverage outlets to open. However, as owner Victor Tan says in Celine's article, "I felt the use of the space could be improved. I never thought I’d be starting a trend.”

It was a fun assignment to shoot as it gave me an opportunity to capture the same places twice -- both before and after their evening transformations -- which was an enjoyable creative challenge for me. It was also fantastic to meet so many young and interesting local entrepreneurs who are following their passions and dreams in Singapore's competitive hospitality industry.

21

Earlier this year I learned of a project called 'The Other Hundred', a unique photographic, not-for-profit endeavour aimed as a counterpoint to the clichéd lists of the wealthy and powerful canonized in so much of our media today.

Conceived by Chandran Nair, Founder and CEO of the Global Institute For Tomorrow (GIFT), a Hong Kong-based social venture think tank dedicated to trying to reshape the rules of global capitalism, the big idea behind 'The Other Hundred' was to share the stories of people around the world who are not rich or famous, but whose lives and achievements still deserve to be celebrated.

Explains Nair, “The implication [of those rich lists created by mainstream media] is that being rich is the only way to succeed or live a life of meaning. The reality is that the majority of the people in the world are not rich and we wanted to tell their side of the story."

I was struck by the concept and mission and immediately decided to submit some of my photography for consideration. Drawing inspiration from the work that I had done with The Chain Reaction Project in Timor-Leste, I decided to send a collection of imagery I made in the capital city of Dili a few years ago.

My photograph of a young, joyous Timorese woman was selected as one of the 100 featured photo stories (gathered from more than 11,000 images captured in 158 countries and submitted by nearly 1,500 photographers from around the world). “We received thousands of submissions from photographers of beautiful photos... But we didn’t want beauty. We wanted people’s stories,’’ elaborated Nair, adding, ‘’We wanted to demonstrate what success should look like, what prosperity should look like -- this isn’t an anti-rich display by any means... The book is designed to challenge our perceptions of what prosperity really is.’’

Chandran Nair recently appeared on CNN where he spoke of (among other things) 'The Other Hundred' and encouraged people to "look at the world in a different way".

An exhibition of the 'The Other Hundred' photography recently premiered in Hong Kong and will be traveling around the world -- visiting Singapore, Mumbai, Beijing, Berlin, Istanbul, Dubai and New York -- in the months ahead.

'The Other Hundred' is available for purchase on Amazon and at fine booksellers worldwide.

25

I was so excited when I learned that I'd be photographing the stunning Ukrainian supermodel Alla Kostromichova for the September 2013 cover of Condé Nast Traveller (Russia) on the remote private island of Song Saa in Southern Cambodia.

And when I arrived on the island -- a pristine tropical hideaway blanketed in virgin rainforest, fringed by white sandy beaches, and surrounded by coral reefs -- I knew it would be a special shoot. However, I had no idea just how special it would end up being.

The entire team -- an eclectic international mix from Russia, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and Canada whom had never met before -- quickly came together as both creative partners and friends.

From the long wooden bridges stretching out across the sea, to the friendly and colourful local fishing village, to the natural waterfall hidden deep in the jungle, every location was a true inspiration.

And Alla herself was an absolute dream to collaborate with and to photograph.

However, we were not without challenges: specifically, it was June and the monsoon season in the Gulf of Thailand was in full swing, which meant we were faced with highly unpredictable weather throughout our time at Song Saa.

The first three days on the island were mostly grey, overcast, and rainy, which caused a significant level of stress for the client, for the crew and, of course, for me. However, on the actual morning we had scheduled to photograph the cover and fashion feature with Alla, the clouds cleared, the sky turned blue, and the sun shone brightly throughout the entire day.

On rare occasions everything comes together perfectly -- the location, the team, the talent, the weather -- and the photographs seem to almost make themselves. For me, this CN Traveller shoot was one of those unique experiences. I can say without equivocation that this was the most amazing fashion photography experience I have ever had.

Visit the following links to see a small collection of candid iPhone outtakes I made during the fashion shoot: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.

01

As a close friend pointed out, my image of the joyous novice monks careening down a hill at their Bhutan monastic school is my "Energizer Bunny" photograph: it keeps going and going and going...

I can't say that I mind, though. As I've said many times before, this is my favourite photograph I've ever made.

So, when National Geographic contacted me seeking my permission to publish it again -- this time in The Best of National Geographic Yearbook 2013 -- I was ecstatic.

It took awhile to receive a copy of the book, but earlier this week a parcel arrived at my office from National Geographic in Washington, DC. Like a child at Christmas, I ripped open the box and quickly found my favourite young monks on pages 106/07.

This is the third time my photograph has appeared in a National Geographic publication, and it still remains my proudest ever accomplishment as a photographer. I'll be quite thrilled if it continues to go and go and go...

15

Late last month, I received an email from the Associate Editor at Travel+Leisure India & South Asia; she was looking for a series of photographs to illustrate the final page of her July 2013 edition, in a section called "Last Look".

The issue was to be focused on South East Asia and, thus, she was interested in a collection of imagery that was "quintessentially Singapore". I scoured my archives and sent her a collection of 8-10 landscape photographs that showcased some of Singapore's more iconic landscapes and architecture.

In the end, the team from T+L settled on three images: the imposing 'Super Trees' at Gardens by the Bay; the twisting Helix Bridge at Marina Bay Sands; and the technicolour panorama of a nighttime Clarke Quay.

18

Late last year, I was commissioned by The Financial Timesto photograph a series of portraits of "entrepreneur, linguist, dandy dresser, petrol head, cycling fanatic, part-time soldier and thoroughly nice bloke: Wei Koh."

Wei Koh is the founder of Revolution Press and the editorial director of luxury horological title, Revolution and men's style and artisanal luxury publication, The Rake.

I had met Wei in passing at his Singapore office a couple of years prior -- when I photographed Oliver Stone for his magazine, The Rake -- so when I arrived at his home on the day of the shoot, we immediately had something in common.

My creative brief was to make a collection of photographs of Wei in his personal environment, and I was immediately attracted to the modern art adorning the walls of his home. I proposed integrating Wei's art collection into our portraits, and he happily obliged.

It was a relaxed and enjoyable photo shoot, with Wei's lovely wife, Jocelyn on-hand to help with his personal styling.

The result of our time together that morning spanned six pages in the FT's December 2012 horology magazine, "Watch This Space".

01

I am extremely fortunate to have a long-standing relationship with Travel + Leisure magazine, one of the world's preeminent luxury travel and lifestyle publications. I have worked with the Southeast Asian edition a number of times over the years, contributing travel and luxury lifestyle features; however, I have never had the privilege of photographing a cover fashion spread for them. Until now.

Travel + Leisure SEA's Art Director contacted me, commending this fashion feature I recently shot for Dusit's Ei8ht magazine. He mentioned that T+L SEA would soon be celebrating it's 5th anniversary, and he was interested in having me shoot a similarly-conceived cover and fashion feature at the brand new W Hotel in Singapore for the magazine's upcoming celebration issue.

In late-October, my team and I descended upon the beautiful W Hotel at Sentosa Cove for the all-day photography session. Creatively, I love these types of assignments for the opportunity to integrate the property into my imagery, making the location a character alongside the model. And there were so many remarkable locations to shoot around this contemporary luxury resort hotel -- avant-garde architecture, innovative furnishings and vibrant colours -- that we were spoiled for choice.

27

In the words of writer Rod Mackenzie, "Singapore is undergoing a creative revolution."

I wholeheartedly agree.

Rod asserts, "This isn’t a country normally associated with sudden spontaneity or letting rip. Efficient, safe, clean, somewhat maiden-auntish and rule-bound -- these are the words people tend to use when describing this little diamond-shaped island."

However, in the three years Rod has lived here -- and most certainly in the 15+ years I have called it home -- Singapore has "undergone some significant changes. Glitzy Vegas-style casinos, groundbreaking modern architecture, Formula One races, cutting-edge arts festivals, pleasure gardens filled with 50-metre-tall neon-lit 'Supertrees' -- it’s all getting louder, brighter and much more interesting."

So, for four days this past August, we traversed our tiny island home in a beautiful, brand new Range Rover Sport,

meeting a handful of entrepreneurs who are "rewriting the rulebook and fueling the economic future" of Singapore.

We interviewed and photographed a total of five independent business people who have chosen not only to make Singapore their personal home, but also the place where they chase their professional dreams: Ryan Lee, CEO of X-mini capsule speakers for mobile phones, Mp3 players, tablets and laptops; Lisa Crosswhite, founder of Gnossem, an online retailed dedicated to independent Asian fashion designers; Lawrence Koh, founder of iFly Singapore, Asia's only indoor skydiving wind tunnel; Violet Lim, chief executive of Lunch Actually, a dating agency that connects busy professionals in over lunch; and Loh Lik Peng, the hotelier behind Singapore's boutique properties New Majestic Hotel, Hotel 1929 and Wanderlust.

It was a unique way to observe Singapore -- through the windscreen of a Land Rover. It was also an interesting way to learn more about Singapore -- through the eyes of these successful, creative entrepreneurs.

Watch Mike's short film about "Singapore's Creative Revolutionaries" here.

09

There are many wonderful technological benefits to being a photographer in the Twenty-first Century, but none greater than the ability to easily connect and communicate with clients, both existing and potential, all around the world. Developing these relationships, however, still requires personal effort, a little luck and some human kindness.

Last year I was contacted by the Photo Editor at Condé Nast Traveller (Russia) and we ended up working together to illustrate a Cambodia story, 'АнГкор, еще анГкор!'(translated as 'Angkor, More Angkor') for the February 2012 issue of her magazine. Following this collaboration, and despite having never met in person or even spoken on the phone, we have developed a long-distance, electronic friendship.

So when she reached out again recently -- this time seeking photography for an upcoming CNT (Russia) feature about Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam -- I was only too happy to oblige.

I used to live in Saigon in the late 1990s and have returned to Vietnam's commercial capital numerous times over the past dozen years to witness and document the hyper-frenetic, ever-changing city. I, therefore, have a deep reservoir of imagery from Vietnam to draw upon.

The result of my most recent collaboration with Condé Nast Traveller (Russia) is the feature 'НА СУП ФО к дядюшке Хо' (roughly translated as 'Go To Uncle Ho for Pho') which appears across a dozen pages in the November 2012 issue.

Recalling from our previous work together that I had a large library of stock imagery from Cambodia -- and in the spirit of both friendship and partnership -- my CNT (Russia) contact kindly introduced me to the Photo Editor at GQ (Russia)whom she knew to be searching for photographs to illustrate a story about Cambodia's capital city, Phnom Penh, for her magazine.

'БУДДА-БАР' (meaning 'Buddha Bar'), featuring a handful of my Phnom Penh photographs, appeared in the October 2012 edition of GQ (Russia).

Neither of these connections would ever have been made without modern technology. But I am also acutely aware that neither of these relationships would ever have flourished without both a personal touch and a kind gesture. And isn't that what partnership is all about?

20

I have been extremely privileged to meet and photograph a number of notable and high-profile personalities over the course of my career. Photographing people like Oscar-winning film director Oliver Stone and PGA golfer Tiger Woods have been among my most memorable assignments.

And over the past year, while on assignment for various editorial clients, I have had the opportunity to make portraits of three interesting and engaging individuals: fiction author Alexander McCall Smith; scholar, columnist and television personality Niall Ferguson; and art historian Charles Saumarez Smith.

I spent a couple of hours with Alexander McCall Smith, author of the best-selling The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agencyseries, at Singapore's iconic Raffles Hotel last year while shooting a profile about him for Reader's Digest. Mr. McCall Smith was a patient and thoughtful subject and, as it was the first (and only) time I've been permitted to shoot inside Raffles Hotel, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of integrating the historical Victorian-era property and decor into my photographs.

Earlier this year I met Niall Ferguson very briefly when I was commissioned by the Financial Timesto photograph him at

a finance conference at Singapore's Mandarin Oriental Hotel. My assistant and I were set up and waiting for Mr. Ferguson, who was delayed, for more than ninety minutes. So when he arrived, we had just a few minutes to shoot his portrait, which gave me time to make only a handful of photographs. But he was a fantastic subject -- he was extremely comfortable in front of my lens, required little direction and was full of expression -- so a few moments was all that we needed to get the shot.

Finally, I was hired by Billionaireto photograph portraits of Charles Saumarez Smith, former Director of the National Portrait Gallery (UK) and the National Gallery (UK), and the current Secretary and Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Arts (UK). Our shoot took place this past March at the historic Eden Hall, the private residence of the British High Commissioner to Singapore. I had about one hour with Mr. Saumarez Smith, and although my idea of photographing him on the grounds outside was scuttled by an afternoon thunder shower, I feel I was still able to make some compelling pictures of him. It was an honour to photograph a subject whose image, captured by the great Mario Testino, currently resides in his former place of employment, London's National Portrait Gallery.

22

"It’s the perennial, as it were, dilemma of urban landscape architects everywhere. How to create a grand, public park, with immediate impact, when the essential star attractions, the tall trees, can take decades or even longer to mature," states Sydney-based writer and friend, Anthony Dennis, in our most recent collaboration, 'The Ultimate Tree Change' published in The Australian'sJuly 2012 issue of WISH Magazine.

Anthony continues, "It was this problem that confronted an impatient city-state with ambitions to cement itself as the pre-eminent tourism and investment destination in southeast Asia -- not in the future, but now. Singapore, which in recent years has embraced architecture and design as drivers of its national goals, devised a unique solution to the slow-growing tree problem for its new Gardens by the Bay development. It has built 'Supertrees' that form a sculptural garden, an amalgam of the architectural and the organic."

I had the privilege of visiting Gardens by the Bay for an exclusive private tour and photoshoot this past May, a number of weeks prior to the park's grand opening in late-June. In Singapore's typical fashion of 'Go Big or Go Home', it was simply awe-inspiring. The 18 'Supertrees' towered between 25m and 50m overhead, and

their branches extended "like oversized spiderwebs", the primary focal point being a 128m-long aerial walkway, which connects the giant man-made structures in 'Supertree Grove'.

As Anthony goes on to explain, urban design "has evolved to fully embrace a multitude of disciplines, not just the horticultural but also architecture and landscape design and, in the Singapore example, structural and environmental engineering. Gardens by the Bay -- and, indeed, Singapore's entire Marina Bay development, including Marina Bay Sands, the Esplanade, Singapore Flyer, ArtScience Museum and Marina Bay Financial Centre -- certainly exemplifies this forward-looking philosophy.

See Anthony and my other recent WISH Magazine collaboration, 'Penang's Time Capsule', published in the The Australian's May 2012 issue. And browse more of my luxury lifestyle and travel photography on my website.

05

There is no Asian destination more in vogue right now than Cambodia. "The Kingdom of Wonder" is on everyone's lips, and every major luxury travel and lifestyle magazine is bestowing the country's virtues upon their readership.

I have traveled to Cambodia on various photography assignments six times in as many months. It is an extremely dynamic and exciting destination; an adventurer's paradise and a true photographer's delight.

And, as author Rodney Bolt writes in "A Homage to the Resurgent Phnom Penh" -- my most recent photography commission for the Summer 2012 issue of American Express' Centurion Magazine (UK) -- "[a]fter barely a decade of political stability, Cambodia's capital of cool bustles with an energy all its own; [a] heady mix of of youthful ambition, glorious architecture and bewitching cuisine."

This type of editorial travel assignment is among my favourite to shoot since it allows me the time to truly experience a city, and the opportunity to creatively document whatever and whomever I encounter along the way.

Phnom Penh was a beautiful and eager subject for me -- a city steeped in colonial heritage but maturing in real time, the landscape and it's residents stylishly and visibly evolving from one day to the next.